Sat, 02/27/2010 - 1:16pm - Posted by: Ramsey McPhillips

The great part of Jeb's experience is confirmation for me that Metro has the ability (authority) to restrict the flow of their garage because they know it is a) harmful stuff b) valuable stuff. Kathy George and Leslie Lewis gave away that legal opportunity to mirror metro's "flow control" with their vote to expand the landfill. They voted to let Waste Managment have all the benefits/controls over how our garbage is managed, stored and financially resourced. Over the course of the life of the landfill expansion Kathy George and Leslie Lewis gave away Millions and millions of dollars to the folks in Houston, Texas and Metro. Those millions belonged to the citizens of YC who must store Metro's garbage in our riverbank flood plain forever. YC is the butt of both Waste Management's and Metro's joke - the farmland and river are nothing but a place to environmentally and economically exploit. Metro makes $22.00 for every $1.25 YC gets for the very same ton of diapers, plastic bags, household food waste, and packaging material that is stored at Riverbend. That $22.00 fee they add to their garbage bill is just one of the reason's Metro is so much more expensive than Riverbend. The other reason is they had to close all their household landfills because they ALL LEAKED (that is why they send it here) and now they have to pay for them by charging everyone in Metro huge fees that go to pay for the destroyed aquifers, wells, and rivers. We store Metro's garbage forever for $1.25/ton - they dump it and run and make $22.00/ton to pay for their mistakes and high end green projects like their tourist bureau (that is just one of the non solid waste things that $22.00 goes to pay for.) I can just see Portland's next ad campaign... "Dump your trash on Yamhill County's riverbank and then come visit OMSI!"

Every Waste Management competitor that I have had contact with swears that they can take our garbage (either away or thru an alternative service) for nearly the same tipping fees as we presently have. The reason this didn't come out in the ZIA study is because the ZIA study (a study meant to get an impartial third party analysis) was authored by Waste Management's former financial controller. Lewis and George packed the court to get the outcome they wanted. There is presently a feeding frenzy for garbage because the economy has made us throw away less and because places like Metro are realizing there is more money to be made in managing its recyclables then by just throwing it in a big mountain heap. The manager of Riverbend just stated that Riverbend is down 20%. The idea that we have to have Riverbend to keep those low prices is a lie - and the only way to prove that lie is to open it up to bid and let competition for our VERY VALUABLE garbage resource make this county the money it deserves. If we are going to be a trash county let's work the system to our advantage - keep the garbage rates where they are and skim off host fees from the imported trash, and its many by-products; energy, methane, recyclables, compost, etc and ALL THE JOBS THAT COULD GO WITH THAT. We could have cloned every worker at Riverbend 3 times if the Commissioners had opted for an alternative system. George Duvendack, manager of Riverbend has stated he can, and does, charge different tipping fees to different entities that ship into Riverbend. So also could the county. We could be charging those who import into Rivebend more than we, here in YC, pay. Jeb's experience just proved that point. Kathy and Leslie sold us down the river... literally!

Kris Bledsoe is a very smart money manager and would never do this. She would have used this point in time to negotiate a new contract to get YC the money it deserves... even if she had authorized the expansion. This is the biggest lost financial opportunity the County will see in a very long time. Metro, which runs three counties operates 80% of their services off of fees from garbage. We have the 2nd largest landfill in the State and the Lewis/George team gave that financial resource advantage away. IT MAKES ME FUROUS THAT MY FARM IS DESTROYED FOR NOTHING GAINED BY MY COUNTY. I am not a sacrificial lamb for my own county benefit, I have been slaughtered by outside corporate forces and outside government greed that preyed on the ideological polemic of two "property rights" Commissioners. Political principles are great but not when they cost those you are in charge of protecting so much lost revenue. We all could have got something positive from this fight but alas, Kathy George and Leslie Lewis chose winner takes all. Why Leslie Lewis and Kathy George let Metro and Riverbend be the winner ahead of their own county pocket book will never be understood by this farmer. I get (sadly) that they do not care about the farmland but the money? Why did they give away so much money? We showed them what Metro is taking, and doing... it wasn't as though they weren't informed of the opportunities. Now, unless we can get this thing reversed at LUBA, that will all be lost for another 25 years.

Tue, 03/02/2010 - 9:53pm - Posted by: MsTeresa

Hm sounds interesting!

Mon, 01/25/2010 - 10:57pm - Posted by: takentime

Jeb to bad a lot of people are not listening or reading this. The unions that are backing this are hoping that people have no clue what business pays and the unions are correct.

Thu, 01/21/2010 - 11:10am - Posted by: zeke

There is always someone who manages to tell a story (that favors their opinion) and disregards the actual truth. So it is with this campaign.

The corporate 'minimum tax' has always been for those corps that do not realize a profit. If that was the only 'spending liability' of these corporations, fine, but it isn't.

Along with all the withholding of employee taxes, S.S., Medicare, worker's comp, unemployment, etc., some companies also have fleets of autos that require insurance premiums. Other expenses not listed include liability, bonding, license fees for registering certain business, and even a fee to have the Sec. of State list the business.

All of these expenses are 'required' (to be in business in this state), and each contributes negatively to the bottom line of that particular business.

To announce that corporations only pay $10 a year in taxes is a complete an utter lie, but politics has never been based on truth. In fact, how long ago was it when 'being a politician' actually became a real career? (not that long ago).

And M 67 is nothing more than a poorly disguised sales tax -- it just won't appear on the register tape at the checkout counter. But a tax on gross sales is just that, and nothing more. Every business that grosses over $500K will be subject to the tax, and those who don't believe they will be affected fall into two categories -- completely complicit in promoting a lie, or extemely ignorant of business practices.

If the cost to do business raises (which it will if these measures pass), then the consumer will pay the difference -- everyone who purchases anything will be affected --

Sun, 01/17/2010 - 2:26pm - Posted by: Retired

You should make this your front page story.
retiredbs

Tue, 01/05/2010 - 12:26pm - Posted by: MsTeresa

I knew so many of those that you mentioned and I can tell you each one of them touched my life in one way or another as I'm sure they have to so many others in and outside our community,,,I have very graciously been blessed to know them. *_*